Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Home Theater and AV Podcasts

If you have some sort of addiction to your Home Theater and A/V equipment in general and time to kill while driving to work or maybe even while you "work", you might want to spend time catching up on the latest AV Geek news listening to a podcast. You don't need an ipod, or even an mp3 player to listen to podcasts, just a computer with speakers connected. Of course if you want to listen while exercising or driving for example, you'll need some sort of portable player to take with you.

So what are the best Home Theater related podcasts?
Well, I personally listen to three of them. Call me a geek, or whatever, but it helps to keep up with a field that changes so rapidly. In no particular order, my favorites are:

HDTV and Home Theater Podcast - by the HT Guys
Fun and Casual podcast that's been going a long time, and is usually twice per week. Tons of the latest news coverage makes it easy to keep up with the latest deals, latest HDTV releases and general news as well as some occasional special features. These guys are very nice and very relaxing to listen to, they answer listener emails, discuss the latest news, have occasional interviews and reviews and generally keep you up to date with all the latest news stories. I especially enjoy their discussion of the latest HD shows. Occasionally I zone out for a minute or two if they are going through a whole bunch of new models and their features from a manufacturer, but I rarely miss an episode. Highly recommended.

The Real HT Info Podcast
A very nice podcast generally dedicated to getting the most "bang for your buck". Features Listener emails, Industry news, Features about a related topic, and usually a single in-depth DVD and extremely in-depth CD review per episode. Often has a knowledgeable guest or interview lately which is very nice. Usually a new episode every two weeks or so. Another very enjoyable podcast that is very relaxing to listen to.

AVRant
This is more or less the "bad boys" of Home Theater podcasting, or more accurately the bad boy and his long suffering female co-host podcast. Brought to you by Audioholics, this podcast has generally less news and has less of a predictable format than the others. Quite often hilarious, it's almost more of a comedy show than any kind of news show, although when they get the Audioholics big whigs on, they can get into some pretty high level discussions. It's almost like a radio morning show for AV geeks. While not exactly relaxing, when I need to hear some fun insanity with some AV information and, yes, ranting thrown in, I put this on. It's usually once a week, and decidedly "PG" rated.

I can't say I agree with everything on these shows all the time, and these podcasters are not exactly shy about voicing opinions, but there is plenty to be learned from all of them for an AV geek like me.